We Are The Champions | April Featured Roasters

Here at Fellow, we have the pleasure of choosing five of our favorite roasters from all over the world to feature right here in our Playground! In this day and age, we have at our disposal a wealth of incredible coffees and coffee roasters to choose from every day. To help focus our curation, we pick a new theme every month.

This month’s theme is “We Are The Champions!” Did you know that every April, coffee professionals from all over the world gather together in a chosen US city to meet for the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Exposition? This giant convention features a huge showroom of all the latest and greatest specialty coffee products, a four-day symposium with classes and lectures, and a whole weekend of coffee-focused competitions.

It is here that coffee stars are born. Competitors who are victorious go on to compete in the SCA World Competitions, producers who have worked hard to cultivate the most sublime delicious beans are discovered, and roasteries who have mastered the art of expressing beautiful coffee are celebrated.

This month, we have selected coffees from these very masters and champions to share with you. Each of these coffees has come from either a roastery which was used in the 2017 World Brewers Cup, or in the case of Port of Mokha, is regarded as one of the finest coffees on the market today.

We hope you’ll enjoy this homage to our beloved coffee heroes from all over the world as much as we do!

PORT OF MOKHAOakland, CA | Founded 2015 by Mokhtar Alkhanshali

Fun Fact: Mokhtar is the subject of Dave Eggers’ new book, The Monk of Mokha, in which Eggers tells the amazing story of how Port of Mokha came to be!

“Al-Jabal, located at 2200 meters above sea level, is a beauty to behold. The final stretches of the journey to this region have no roads and can only be traversed by foot or by donkey. Their vast coffee terraces stretch for miles and from certain vantage points can appear endless. The high elevation of the coffee makes for slow maturation of the coffee, creating unique, and complex fruit notes. The people here, like much of Yemen, are distinguished by their easy demeanor, generosity, and refined hospitality. We regularly cycle different farm lots to represent this region with each lot named for the farmer who tends it.” – Port of Mokha (@portofmokha)

Fun Fact: Jeremy Ho from Phil & Sebastian won the 2013 Canadian Barista Championships, and 2014 CBC winner Ben Put from Phil & Sebastian advanced to the semi-finals of the 2014 World Barista Championship.

“Pedro Moreno’s coffee embodies all the right qualities that make the coffees from Santa Barbara so unique and amazing. It’s syrupy sweet, floral, fruity with a lively acidity. This is our third year working with Pedro. He is from the region of El Cedral in the central part of the Santa Barbara coffee growing region. ” – Phil & Sebastian (@philandseb)

Fun Fact: Bonanza offers artisanal pastries from the best French pastry chef in Berlin. It took Bonanza 10 years to convince the super small production to sell their croissants to the café. They are so limited that you can only find them at Bonanza a few days of the week. (Source: Sprudge)

“Gatare is one of the largest and oldest washing stations in Rwanda. This Gatare lot, #62, is one of their standout coffees: intensely fruity and complex. This coffee has a wonderful balance between bright berry notes, florals and a surprisingly creamy mouthfeel. We think it is equally suited for filter brewing and espresso.” – Bonanza (@bonanzacoffee)

“Alasitas is owned and operated by Pedro Rodriguez, his daughter Daniela and son Pedro Pablo, who are also the family behind the mill Finca Buena Vista. Daniela Rodriguez explains: ‘Finca Alasitas is an example of a sustainable farm for the producers in the region. On the farm we have a nursery where we are developing new varieties and new flavors.’”

These beans, of the Caturra variety, have undergone a very thorough process where the beans are sun dried below a UV-filter, and in the final stages transferred to mechanical driers. The drying process shows in the coco-coloured shine of the dried berries, which is why they are referred to as Coco Naturals. Due to the high quality, we’ve paid 255% above market price (5$/lb FOB). We’ve roasted this coffee light to highlight the fruity aromas.” – The Coffee Collective (@coffeecollectif)

“Miguel comes from a town called La Inmaculada, a couple of hours away from the main town of Buesaco. This region was controlled by different illegal armed groups in the ‘90s, who forced local farmers to grow coca. Running away from this, Miguel and his family left their hometown and settled in Buesaco, where they purchased a small plot of land and now have 2.5 hectares (10,000 coffee trees) planted. He hopes now to be able to start his own family and continue to focus his efforts on specialty coffee which helps him secure a stable income.” – Onyx Coffee Lab (@onyxcoffeelab)